Optimizing your child's brain health

Family Therapist Haley Figueroa, MA, LMFT, shares advice for parents on the best methods for optimizing and improving your child's brain health
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Optimizing your child's brain health

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So what are the common recommendations that we have at the Amen Clinics for achieving optimum brain health? We say at the Amen Clinic that everything you do that effects the brain and the brain affects everything that you do. Number one is to take care of the brain you have. You could do this by eliminating harmful toxins, things that you are ingesting, decreasing caffeine, making sure you are not abusing illicit drugs or things like alcohol all of that, and you also want to decrease activities that put you at risk for head trauma, because even minor head trauma or minor head injuries can cause personality changes and learning difficulties for you and your child. Also we want to make sure that we are paying attention to what’s going into the body. Making sure you are getting enough supplements or vitamins, so if you are not getting enough of that in your diet. Also the food that you eat could either help you or hurt you, so you really want to pay attention to the types of foods that you are getting and then exercise. Exercise is one of the most important things you could do for your brain that really helps with decreasing and elevating things like anxiety and depression, EDD. It also can help prevent and delay Alzheimer’s and Dementia. So it's a great thing that you can do for yourself and your child. Some of the other things that you could do to help to optimize your brain are to really work on what you are focusing on. So, focusing your thoughts or things your before and things that matter to you the most because your thoughts fed the brain, so positive thoughts can have a positive effect on the brain and negative thoughts can produce negative chemicals that effect the brain in it in a negative way so really work on directing your thoughts and focus and helping your child to do the same.

Family Therapist Haley Figueroa, MA, LMFT, shares advice for parents on the best methods for optimizing and improving your child's brain health

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Haley Figueroa, MA, LMFT

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist & Brain Health Educator

Haley provides patients at the world-renowned Amen Clinics with in-depth psycho-social assessments, brain health education, parenting courses and Marriage and Family Therapy counseling. She has more than a decade of experience working with children, adolescents, and their families in a variety of environments including school and clinical settings. Haley also has specialized training in conflict resolution, lifestyle and weight management, relationship enhancements, and parenting. Creator of My Baby is Christian, a learning and spiritual development system for young children, Haley has taught several courses at the Amen Clinics, including a 12-week Anxiety and Depression group, Love and Logic parenting, and Amen Clinic’s Two-Day Brain Health Course. She also authors a parenting blog. Haley earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Child and Adolescent Studies at California State University, Fullerton and a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology, with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy, from Pepperdine University. A wife and mother of three, she is passionate about helping individuals and families reach their goals, enhance their relationships and achieve optimal brain health!

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Transcription: 
So what are the common recommendations that we have at the Amen Clinics for achieving optimum brain health? We say at the Amen Clinic that everything you do that effects the brain and the brain affects everything that you do. Number one is to take care of the brain you have. You could do this by eliminating harmful toxins, things that you are ingesting, decreasing caffeine, making sure you are not abusing illicit drugs or things like alcohol all of that, and you also want to decrease activities that put you at risk for head trauma, because even minor head trauma or minor head injuries can cause personality changes and learning difficulties for you and your child. Also we want to make sure that we are paying attention to what’s going into the body. Making sure you are getting enough supplements or vitamins, so if you are not getting enough of that in your diet. Also the food that you eat could either help you or hurt you, so you really want to pay attention to the types of foods that you are getting and then exercise. Exercise is one of the most important things you could do for your brain that really helps with decreasing and elevating things like anxiety and depression, EDD. It also can help prevent and delay Alzheimer’s and Dementia. So it's a great thing that you can do for yourself and your child. Some of the other things that you could do to help to optimize your brain are to really work on what you are focusing on. So, focusing your thoughts or things your before and things that matter to you the most because your thoughts fed the brain, so positive thoughts can have a positive effect on the brain and negative thoughts can produce negative chemicals that effect the brain in it in a negative way so really work on directing your thoughts and focus and helping your child to do the same.